22 Nov 2018

German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association has been commended for partnering with the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development in a bid to introduce advanced technology in the areas of hydraulics and pneumatics, programmable logic controls and mechatronics.

The commendation was made Germany President Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier during the launch of the partnership between the two parties on November 22 prior to his departure after a two-day official visit to Botswana.

He said the partnership would help grow Botswana’s vocational and technical training, an area which he said still needed all the support it could get.

On his visit to Botswana, he said it was meant to strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries.

Since Botswana was a politically stable country with a prudently managed economy, he said, he had brought a delegation of German entrepreneurs so that they could explore opportunities for setting up businesses in Botswana.

Speaking at the same occasion, Minister Tshenolo Mabeo said the Botswana-Germany partnership would help scale up vocational and technical education as well as training opportunities thereby availing the skills necessary for the labour market.

Mr Mabeo said the partnership would also be beneficial in that it would propel the country to greater heights in terms of skills development, economic diversification and job creation.

He pointed out that the ministry and the association signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September last year thereby starting a partnership that paved the way for technical education and training in areas of hydraulics and pneumatics, programmable logic controls and mechatronics.

Since the commencement of the partnership, he said, the ministry had, through the Construction Industry Trust Fund (CITF), successfully trained two groups following the installation of the necessary equipment sourced from Germany.

He said so far, a total of 49 people had been trained on the use of the equipment that would be used to transfer skills to locals.

Mr Mabeo thanked the German government and the association for supporting Botswana’s vocational education saying the efforts and hard work that they had invested in the partnership had started to pay off.

However, the minister said the ministry’s intention was to continue discussions with Germany with the view to broaden the outcomes of the project for a larger impact on creation of employment in Botswana.

In a media briefing following the launch, Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development permanent secretary Ms Pearl Ramokoka said the technology would benefit Botswana since the country had a serious shortage of skilled labour.

Ms Ramokoka said the partnership with the association would help the country move its focus from theory to practical as Botswana was in the process of transforming its vocational training sector. ENDS